Securing apparatus



March 3, 1959 F. w. HART 2,875,867

SECURING APPARATUS Filed Dec. 28. 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I r "H" 'IAIIIWIIMIIH-UE F/"QfiX W. Far 2 INVENTOR.

' March 3, 1959 F. w. HART 2,875,867

SECURING APPARATUS Filed Dec. 28, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I L A? -l- 41 fig? mu frank W. 'Ha/Z INVENTOR.

rm/WE m United States a e SECURING APPARATUS Frank W. Hart, Houston, Tex., assignor to Hudson Engineering Corporation, Houston, Tex., a corporation of Texas Application December 28, 1954, Serial No. 478,092

2 Claims. (Cl. 18935) This invention relates to an improved apparatus for releasably securing a plate-like member in edge facing relation to another such member. More particularly, this invention relates to such apparatus that is operable from either side of the plate-like member being secured and as such is especially well suited for securing covers over manways in partitions extending across vertical towers.

Towers of the type mentioned are employed, for example, in the petroleum refining industry as gas-liquid contact apparatus in which heavy hydrocarbons are extracted from hydrocarbon gases containing these heavy constituents as well as lighter constituents. As well known in the industry, the interior of such a tower is pro vided with a plurality of vertically spaced and laterally disposed perforated partitions known as bubble trays.

Liquid is caused to flow downwardly through the tower the manways, which means is carried by the partition and In the drawings, wherein like reference characters are used throughout to designate like parts:

Fig. 1 is a horizontal sectional view of a tower, show ing a bubble tray with a cover closing a manway there through and securely held in closed position by the apparatus of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of a part of the tower taken substantially along broken-line 22 of Fig. 1; n Fig. 3 is'an enlarged side view of the apparatus in v cover securing position;

- Fig. 4 is -a view similar to Fig. 3, taken substantially along broken line 4-4 of Fig. 3-;

Fig. 5 is a top view of the apparatus shown in 'Figs. 3 and 4, taken substantially along broken line 5-5 of Fig. 3;

from one tray to another by means of openings through practice to provide access along the entire length of the tower interiors by means of manways through the bubble trays. Such manways are closed by removable covers of the tray and which are releasably securable in fixed position over the manway. It will be understood that a prime requisite of the covers is that they be releasably which may be provided with perforations to form a part securable from either above or below the trays in order that a workman may open and close each manway as he traverses the length of the tower.

Although the apparatus of the present. invention finds special utility in the afore-mentioned field, and is illustrated and described below in connection therewith, it is obvious that it is not limited thereto and many other practical applications are contemplated. 1

It is an object of this invention to provide a latching or fastening device for use with apparatus of the char acter described, which device is of extremely simplified construction having a minimum of parts requiring a minimum amount of assembly and machining.

Another object is to provide apparatus carried by a plate-like member for releasably securing another such member in edgefacing relation thereto, which apparatus is actuable from either side of the first-mentioned platelike member to permit removal of the second-mentioned of such members.

Still another object is to provide apparatus of the type described in the foregoing object-in which said plate-like members may be secured with their surfaces in substantially coplanar relation.

'Yet another object is to provide, in combination with a vertical tower having partitions extending laterally thereacrossand covers for closing manways through the Fig. dis a view similar to Fig. 5, but with the latching device of the apparatus moved to non-securing position; and

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of a part of the latching device of the securing apparatus.

The apparatus of the present invention includes a latching or fastening device having a shaft with actuators rigidly connected thereto at spaced locations above the length of the shaft for rotating the same. This shaft is received through an opening in a support having a surface for. supporting a plate-like member in edge facing, and preferably coplanar, relation to another such member. Upon rotation of the device from either side of the support, cam surfaces on the spaced actuators are engageable withthe support and the plate-like members for releasably securing them in their supported position. When 7 released upon rotation of the device to non-securing position, one or both of the plate-like members are removable from said supported position.

The latching or fastening device itself consists of only two parts, one part being a T headed bolt having the cam surface for engagement with the plate-like members and the other a conventional nut threaded onto the bolt and welded thereto in the location desired, and upon which the other cam surface for engagement with the support is disposed.

" that each .trayis terminated short of a side of the tower partitions, means for. releasably securing such covers over to provide, with a downcomer bafile 12, an opening through which the downwardly flowing liquid passes from one tray to another. More particularly, these openings are staggered in successively arranged trays, as best shown in Fig. 2.

Each tray is provided with perforations or apertures 13 therethrough in which risers 14 are fitted to support bubble caps (not shown). With a liquid level maintained on each tray by means of weir 15 at the open end thereof, the bubble caps cause the gas flowing upwardlythrough the perforations to contact the liquidon the tray, in a maner well known in the art.

As previously mentioned, the trays are provided with manways 16'therethrough to permit access at different levels within the tower, and removable covers 17 for closing the manways. As can be seen from the drawings, the covers may be perforated and provided with risers to form parts of the tray. More particularly, each cover is releasably securable over its respective manway by means of the apparatus of the present invention.

Federated Mar. 3, 1959 tray edge defining the manway are supported upon surfaces 18 of members 19, which may be angle irons or other suitable. supports. These supports are also pro vided with-portions which project intothe manway and provide surfaces 20 for supporting the covers 17 in edge facing. and coplanar relation to the plate-like trays.

As best shown in Fig. 3, the supports 19 are pro.- vided with openings 21 therethrough intermediate the surfaces 18 and 20 to receive the rotatable shaft 22 of a latching or fastening device, designated in its entirety by the numeral 23, with the actuators 24 and 25 thereof disposed atopposite sides of the support, and thus carried therebys As can be seen:from Fig. 1, each tray may be provided with one or more. such devices for each side of. the manway or cover.

Inoperation, the latchingdevices 23 are rotatable betweenrthe position shown in Figs. 1 to for securely holding thecovers over the manways and another position (Fig. 6) at about 90 degrees to the securing position such that the actuator is disposed between the. edges of the tray and the cover. Inthi'slatter position, the cover is no longer secured and may be lifted and removed from the manway.

Inasmuch as the latching device is carried by the tray, the cover is free from encumbrances and of the most simplied construction possible. Also, although the actuator 24 isof such construction that in the non-securing position of Fig. '6, either or both of the plate-like members, cover 17 and tray 11, may be removed, the. support 19- may, if desired, be rigidly secured to or form an integral part of the tray 11 in which case only the cover would be removable.

Examining the latching device 23 more closely, it can be seen. that the shaft'22 and actuator 24' are the stem and head,.respectively, of a T headed bolt, and the actuator 25 is a hexagonal nut threaded onto the stem of the bolt and welded thereto as at 26 in the position desired. In the embodiment shown, this position is determined by a spacing between cam surfaces 27 and 2 8 on actuators 2'4 and 25, respectively, which will, in the securing positiori of the apparatus, provide a tight and secure joint between the cover 17 and support 19. It will be understood that the coplanar relationship of the upper surfaces of the cover and tray not only permitsthe simplified latching device construction noted above, in which opposite portions of the cam surface 27 may be substantially in a single plane, but also it permits the use of a latching device which may be turned in either rotational sense between securing and non-securing positions. Also, of course, this overall construction provides a tray upon which the water level is substantially constant. It should be understood that this apparatus could, with certain modifications, be used for supporting plate-like members, such as the tray 11 and. cover 17, of different thicknesses. For example, the supporting surfaces 18 and 20 could be disposed. on different levels in a manner to secure the upper surfaces of these members in coplanar and edge facing relation by means of the latching device shown. Also, the portions of cam surface 27 on opposite sides of the stem 22 could be disposed on opposite levels. However, it will be appreciated that this last-mentioned construction has neither the advantages of the extremely simplified T head construction nor would it permit the optional rotational operation of the latching device.

The provision of an actuator 24 with a width in one direction diametrically of the shaft less than the distance between the support surfaces 18 and 20, which, in the embodiment shown is approximately equal to the shaft diameter, is not only'instrumental in permitting this optional rotational operation of the device 23, but also permits, if desired, removal of either or both the tray and cover in the position Shown i'nFig. 6. i

Although the cam surface 28 of the actuator 25 merely comprises the upper surface of the bolt, the surface 27 comprises a fiat portion 29 and an arcuate portion 30 arranged concentrically thereof. Thus, upon rotation to securing position, there will be no binding of the latching device on the cover, but rather the cover will be evenly compressed against support surface 20.

As can be seen from the drawings, arcuate cam surface part 30 is curved about two axes perpendicular with respect to shaft axis as well as each otherv One such axis. of curvature may be perpendicular to the plane of the side face of actuator 24, as it is shown in Fig. 3, and the z other axisperpendicular to the plane of the end face thereof shown in Fig. 4. As exemplary of the magnitude of such curvatures, with a T head of 1 /2 inches in length and a /2 inch square cross section, the first-mentioned curvature may be about 2 /2 inch radius and the secondmentioned about a inch radius.

The- T headed bolt and nut provide surfaces permitting manipulation by conventional tools. Obviously, a workman traversing the tower in an upwardly direction would. first rotate the latching device 23 by means of actuator 'to the position shown in Fig. 6 for releasing the manway cover. Upon lifting of the cover, the workman could pass through the manway and, if desired, replace and resecure it by rotating the latching device by means of actuator 24. to the position of Fig. 5.

- From the foregoing it will. be seen that this invention CID ' invention Without departing from the scope thereof, it

is to be understood that all matter herein set forth or shown in the accompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

The invention having been described, what is claimed l. A latching device, comprising a rotatable shaft and enlarged actuating portions at spaced locations along said shaft for rotating the same, each of said portions having parallel opposed flat surfaces substantially perpendicular to the axisof the shaft, and one of said portions being elongate and having cams thereon arranged symmetrical- 13/ of and beyond opposite ends of the fiat surface thereon, said cams being convex with respect to the flat surface on said other portion and spaced farther therefrom than the flat surface of said one portion, and said cams also extending from beyond said outer ends of the fiat surface of the one portion toward the shaft along opposite sides of said flat surface.

2. In combination, a support, a plate-like member on said support, another plate-like member on the support in edge facing relation to the first-mentioned member, said support having an opening. therethrough intermediate the edges of said members, and a fastening device including a rotatable shaft extending through said opening and enlarged actuating portions at spaced locations along said shaft for rotating the same, each of said portions having parallel opposed flat surfaces substantially perpendicular to the axis of the shaft for engagement in one position with said plate-like members and said support, respectively, one of said actuating portions being elongate and having a lateral dimension diametrically of the shaft less than the distance between the edges of said members, whereby said fastening device may be rotated to another positionin which both of said plate-like members may be removed from the support, said one actuating portion 'al'so'having cams. thereon arranged. symmetrically of and 5 beyond opposite ends of the flat surface thereof, and said References Cited in the file of this patent cams being convex with respect to the fiat surface on said other portion and spaced farther therefrom than UNITED STATES PATENTS the flat surface of said one portion, said cams also ex- 481,566 Hunter Aug. 30, 1892 tending from beyond said outer ends of the flat surface 5 2,525,217 Glitsch Oct. 10, 1950 of the one portion toward the shaft along opposite sides 2,675,287 Sitler Apr. 13, 1954 of said flat surface. 2,702,732 McCarran Feb. 22, 1955 

